“I’m sorry. Suppose you go on.”
“All right, sir. With your permission I’ll come right to the point.” “One moment before you do: I don’t quite understand your role here. Are you representing Mr. Zalinsky?”
“Not by any desire of mine, sir. As I believe I told you on the phone, I’m a government language expert on the White House staff. When Zalinsky moved in he tapped me because I’m fluent in his language and his English is somewhat limited.”
“Is that why he declines to see anyone?”
“No, senator, that seems to be a policy with him.”
“Thank you for the explanation. Please go on.”
“I believe, sir, that not too long ago you wrote to the premier —”
Fitzhugh raised^a hand and stopped him before he could continue. “Of course, I understand now. I did write a highly confidential letter two or three weeks ago and I’ve been very anxiously awaiting a reply. In fact I have a couple of bags packed in the event I might have to leave on short notice for overseas.” His tone became a little more confidential. “You understand, of course, that if the President had been available…”
“Entirely, sir.”
“It may be,” Fitzhugh continued, “that the President, wherever he is, is already in communication with the premier. If you know this to be a fact, please tell me.” He looked up, the question framed in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Hewlitt answered. “I have no idea where the President is or what he is doing. In the past some traffic between the President and the premier did cross my desk, but now I’m entirely out of the picture.”
Senator Fitzhugh laid his arms on his desk and leaned forward. The lines in his face seemed to deepen and his voice reflected his concern. “Since you have been in that position,” he said, “you can be a great help to me now.” He looked at Hewlitt, almost pleading with him. “If you could give me — just a resume — of what went on just prior to the outbreak of the — the war. I have very urgent reasons for asking this of you.”
Hewlitt shook his head. “I’m genuinely sorry, senator. You understand that I could not reveal that to anyone without the President’s own authorization.”
The senator played another card. “Please consider the present circumstances. You realize, of course, that our… opponents… have full and complete knowledge of what I’m asking. I don’t want to have to aim in the dark.”
“I do understand, senator, as you appreciate my position. May I tell you, sir, why I’m here?”
Fitzhugh sat back, disappointed, but undefeated. “Very well, Mr. Hewlitt, please continue.”
“Senator, Mr. Zalinsky informed me just before I phoned you that your letter had been received and read. I profoundly regret to tell you this, sir, but it was not regarded with the gravity that it deserved. It is the premier’s position right now that we have been defeated and are not in a position to negotiate concerning anything. According to Mr. Zalinsky, he has no present intention of meeting with you or continuing a contact in any way. This may change later, of course, but as of right now I have the most unwelcome task of advising you that the premier wishes you to discontinue all contact.”
The senator sat like a man transfixed, his visitor forgotten. His lips moved unconsciously as they shaped words which were not to be spoken; his eyes focused on something an infinite distance away. He struggled to regain his composure. “I find this very hard to believe,” he said.
“I well understand that, sir.”
“How sure are you of your facts? I don’t know you at all and I have never heard of you before.”
“If I had any different facts to lay before you, senator, I would not have chosen these. My personal reputation doesn’t enter into it.”
Fitzhugh’s voice acquired an edge. “You could be trying to take advantage of me. My positions in regard to important public issues are well known and some of them are highly unpopular with the militarists.…”
That was a challenge Hewlitt refused to ignore. He was doing his best to be considerate of Fitzhugh, but personal abuse was beyond what he was willing to accept. He put a bite into his own voice to let the senator know precisely that. “Sir, if I must declare myself personally, I am in total disagreement with your announced position on the matter of the armed forces, but this has nothing whatever to do with the distasteful job before me now. Whether you have heard of me or not, the fact remains that I am not careless with the truth and in my position, which was one of high responsibility within certain limits until recently, the greatest accuracy was constantly required.”
Fitzhugh spoke in a different tone. “If I offended you, I’m sorry. You must understand that I find your message incredible. The premier is my close personal friend.”
Hewlitt held onto the advantage. “May I ask how often you have seen him, sir?”
“Only once, face to face, but we had a very clear and basic understanding…”
Hewlitt recrossed his legs and folded his hands in his lap; he was in the driver’s seat now and knew that he would have to stay there. “Senator, I have some very specific information concerning your meeting with the premier; it comes directly through Mr. Zalinsky. I will leave it to you whether you wish to hear it or not.”
“Yes, of course. I find no virtue in ignorance.”
“On that point, sir, we are in complete agreement. You will have to accept my word that I did not invent this: Mr. Zalinsky told me very plainly that the premier saw you when you were in his country for only one reason. He wanted you to gain face from the meeting so that you would be reelected.”
“I find that very farfetched.”
It was a definite thrust in the old Fitzhugh manner; Hewlitt answered with one of his own. “It is exceedingly farfetched, sir, to find our country conquered and ourselves in the hands of victorious enemies. These people do not do things by the rational set of rules that we try to follow.”
The toughness which had long characterized Fitzhugh on the
Senate floor refused to let him yield. “Mr. Hewlitt, I will confide in you a little since I see that you are worthy of trust: the premier did not just grant me an audience for the sake of the news value, we had an extremely warm and very candid meeting of considerable duration. We share many views in common.”
“I don’t question that impression, senator; the premier is rather famous for his technique under such circumstances. Do you know what they call him in his own country?”
“No.”
“Literally translated, ‘the Actor.’ ”
Fitzhugh considered that and weighed it against the unpleasant realities he could no longer deny. When he had faced up to it, he looked at Hewlitt squarely and said, “In other words…”
“Man to man, sir, and American to American, you were had.”
The senator drummed his fingertips slowly on his desk. “Did Mr. Zalinsky say that in so many words?”
“Substantially so, yes, sir.” This time he felt that he had to add a bit more. “Let me say something on my own: I told you that I didn’t agree with all of your policies, but at no time have I ever questioned your patriotism. It would be impossible to do so now. You’ve attempted something fine for all of us and, speaking as one individual, I profoundly appreciate it.”
The senator had his thoughts elsewhere. “There is no possible doubt that Mr. Zalinsky has been instructed to advise me to attempt no more communications with his government.”
“That is it, sir, precisely.”
“You could not have misunderstood him.”
“No, senator, I can guarantee that.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because of the precise words which he used.”
“I would like to know what they were.”
“I would prefer not to repeat them, senator, I have too much respect for you for that.”